Sunday, November 19, 2006

THE FAKE FINN

There is this big annual Ljubljana International Film Festival LIFFe going on right now. So I spend quite a lot of time watching all sorts of movies these days. My escape from the shitty reality? In fact I have managed to pick up some movies that recall my own reality a lot more than I would like.

A cute incident occurred this weekend. Since I like to dramatise small and selfish events, I have to write on this one too. The new Kaurismäki's product Lights at the End of the City (Laitakaupungin valot) is about to be shown soon. I went to the LIFFe information desk, curious if director Aki Kaurismäki himself plans visiting Ljubljana. To tell the audience about his work and other interesting thingies. Like those fancy Marimekko bags.

Behind the desk sat an English speaking lady; obviously a foreign employee. ''Is Kaurismäki coming,'' I ask. ''No... but some of his actors, perhaps. Are you from Finland,'' the lady inquires with slightly strange enthusiasm. Huh, it happens again! In Helsinki I was mistaken for a Finn quite often, thus meaning conversations on the street and in the shops. People were asking me for the road and so on. In Finnish. There was also a guy trying to talk to me while Magyar Posse gig. In Finnish. Well, he was drunk pretty much. And yes, I had lots of fun pretending I really am a native; through the usage of language, of course. Oh, now I miss those streets, I would so travel up to Finland again. But in Helsinki and elsewhere in Finland these mistakes were natural. Can I distinct foreigners while walking around Ljubljana right away? Yet Icelanders seem to have special gifts. In Iceland they immediately knew I am a foreigner. In Finland the story was different.

Back to the info desk now. ''No, I only speak Finnish,'' I answer to the lady. I usually do not feel like boasting around I know some Finnish, but at that time I did utter the fact. To Hell(sinki) with modesty, right? And in this case, the result came out quite useful. The lady was excited, she requested my phone-number. Hei, the festival might need a Finnish-speaking somebody. Just might, but nevertheless.

When it comes to work, would anyone be rather interested in the fact I am also a graduated dramaturg? Being able to speak a bit rare language (at least some basics with occasional and unintended spelling mistakes) proves again to be more useful. It looks like one has to constantly advertise her/his all, but really all capabilities. Even at the most akward moments.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ja itak, vse pride kdaj prav.:) Upam, da se bo iz tega izcimila kakšna fina službica. ;)

kaneli said...

Iz tega verjetno ne. :) Bolj me je fasciniralo dejstvo, da sem pač tja v en dan zinila, da znam finsko... pa je bila taka reakcija, hehe.

Gre pa to na prihodnost... treba je pač prodajat vse svoje sposobnosti. ;)

Anonymous said...

Wow... What can I say? How exciting it would be if they would call you to do... anything, just anything. Life puts out such a coincidences every now and then.

Oh, and by the way, I don't want to crush your expectations, but Laitakaupungin valot is not as good as Mies vailla menneisyyttä (The Man Without a Past) or Kauas pilvet karkaavat (Drifting Clouds). Not really bad either, but... You'll see. You'll probably check this out whatever I write about it, right? :)

kaneli said...

Kaarlo-Hermanni:
Thanks for good wish. I really wonder if anything will happen out of this small event.

Menen kyllä katsomaan Laitakaupungin valot! Olen jo ostanut lipun - mitä muuta voin nyt tehdä lippuni kanssa? :) Tänä tiistaina se tapahtuu. No totta puhuakseni odotan innolla kuulevani taas sitä kirjakieliä, josta Kaurismäki pitää niin kovasti.

Kirjoitan vastaukseni sinulle elukuvan jälken. Niin että voisin kirjoittaa elokuvastakin. :)

Alcessa:
Najlepša hvala! :) Kind indeed. But as I have already said,it was only a small event.We'll see. If there will be anything to see. Except the movies, of course.

I guess I pronounced Kaurismäki in a Finnish way. With that nice ä voice(perhaps for Slovenian ears close to very wide e).

By the way, mäki means hill.

Hehe, doesn't it feel a bit funny to be mistaken like this? Kind of new identity.

Anonymous said...

Se mies kuvassa on Tuomas Holopainen, Nightwish yhtyeen kosketinsoittaja.

kaneli said...

Vai niin! Kiitos tiedostasi.Valitettavasti en ole ollut Nightwish-fani. Eihän ole heidän musiikki niin pahaa ollut :)... mutta kuitenkaan.

kaneli said...

An addition. The LIFFe film festival finished this weekend and I was not called. There was no guests from Finland. :(

Ai, nyt avaan suoneni suruilleni... (inspired by Tenhi). ;)